Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South | Vivian Howard
Vivian Howard, the star cocreator of PBS's A Chef's Life, celebrates the flavors of North Carolina's coastal plain in more than 200 recipes and stories. Vivian Howard's new classic of American country cooking proves that the food of Eastern North Carolina--her home--is as rich as any culinary tradition in the world. Vivian grew up in a farming community called Deep Run, and she left as soon as she could. She had big dreams that didn't seem to fit in a place with more pigs than people. But after she trained in some of New York's finest kitchens, her family made her an offer she couldn't refuse: the chance to build a restaurant of her own... back home in North Carolina. Ten years ago, her restaurant Chef and the Farmer put the nearby town of Kinston on the culinary map. But opening an ambitious eatery in a town paralyzed by recession wasn't easy. Instead of hopping on the latest food trends, Vivian focused on rural development: If you grew it, she'd buy it. Inundated by local sweet potatoes, blueberries, shrimp, pork, and beans, Vivian learned to cook the way generations of Southerners before her had, relying on resourcefulness, creativity, and preservation. As much a storybook as it is a cookbook, Deep Run Roots imparts the true tale of Southern food: rooted in family and tradition, yet calling out to the rest of the world. Organized by ingredient with dishes suited to every skill level, Deep Run Roots features time-honored simple preparations, extraordinary meals from Chef and the Farmer, and stories that bring to life the power of tradition and the pleasure of reinventing it. Here, home cooks will find photographs of every single recipe-alongside the powerful taste of being home. Like The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, and The Taste of Country Cooking before it, this is a landmark work of American food writing that gives richness and depth to a cuisine that has been overlooked for far too long. Recipes include: * Family favorites like Blueberry BBQ Chicken, Creamed Collard-Stuffed Potatoes, Fried Yams with Five-Spice Maple Bacon Candy, and Country-Style Pork Ribs in Red Curry-Braised Watermelon, * Crowd-pleasers like Butterbean Hummus, Tempura-Fried Okra with Ranch Ice Cream, Pimiento Cheese Grits with Salsa and Pork Rinds, Cool Cucumber Crab Dip, and Oyster Pie, * Show-stopping desserts like Warm Banana Pudding, Peaches and Cream Cake, Spreadable Cheesecake, and Pecan-Chewy Pie, * And more than 200 other dishes that will send you straight to your kitchen. --- Interior photographs by Rex Miller/ Jacket photographs by Stacey Van Berkel Photography